Of Realisations and Naked Diplomats
by nkttis
Summary: It all begins on the day Larry makes a very fateful decision... For the best?
1. Chapter 1

**Of Realisations and Naked Diplomats**

* * *

Otto watched on from outside the great metal arch in to the kitchen. He didn't like it very much. He never did. Well maybe he didn't care at first. But as he got used to it, the more he couldn't stand it.

"I can _NOT_ have the same conversation with you!" sounded the voice of a big, burly man.

Now how many times had little Otto here heard that same one before?

"Oh it's always about _YOU_, isn't it? Isn't it at all possible that you just _try_ to let go of that disgusting ego of yours?" Larry had his hands on his hips.  
"Is it possible that blah blah blah!" Tuddrussel imitated Larry.  
"Oh how childish!"  
"Oh how blah!"  
"The nerve!"  
"The blah!"  
"Oh poo."  
Larry saw it coming. A blow to the head. A blow to the chest. A few more of them, and he collapsed to the floor. Tuddrussel, the bruiser that he was, lifted Larry right off his little bum. Larry snapped back into consciousness, his system rebooting only to gaze down at the blurred torso of the time cop who had him dangling by his waist.  
"Not again."  
But he wasn't a subservient idiot to this brute. He _knew_ he wasn't. He didn't want to be.  
"Oh let _go_ of me, you boob!" arms and legs flailing, trying his luck for a swipe at the man. But oh how he knew! Resistance was futile!  
Otto watched as Larry soared through the air, thrown almost effortlessly to the wall.  
BANG! Metal against metal.

Otto cringed. So desperately did the little boy want to help right now. To do something about it! He was always the voice of reason between the two. But his fancy words weren't  
going to stop anything from happening in _this_ situation. He had run out of ammo. Tuddrussel WAS impossible. But Otto didn't care now, looking at Larry lie dizzy slumped against the wall while Tuddrussel strode forward to deal more damage.

Otto jumped out in front of Tuddrussel. "What are you DOING? Stop it, Tuddrussel!" he stretched out his arms as wide as he could to stop the man from getting any closer.  
"Rust-Butt had it coming!" as Tuddrussel waved Otto out of his war path and continued his march.  
Otto clung on with full might onto the rampaging officer's beefy arm. "What did _HE_ do?"  
"He done insulted my integrity!" Tuddrussel said, stopping in his tracks.  
"WHAT?"  
"Look!"  
Tuddrussel picked something of the floor and shoved it right in front of Otto's face.  
"Hey wha?"  
Otto refocused his eyes onto a mere teddy bear. He was all too familiar with Tuddrussel's Mr. Binky.  
"Well what about it?" Otto asked bewildered.  
"Look!" Tuddrussel said as he drove his teddy into Otto's face again. "Just look at what Larry did to him!"

This time, Otto noticed. The previously undone stiches had been sewn up neatly, Mr. Binky had been given a spanking new pink bow tie and well frankly, he looked a whole  
lot cleaner than before.  
Then came a facepalm. "Oh brother!..."

Tuddrussel was the most predictable thing on earth. Otto turned his attention to Larry, still slumped down against the wall. He looked well in pain. Pain? Does Larry actually feel  
pain? Otto pondered for a brief moment; _He's... A robot...? Yes. But so what? He's Larry. Off course he did._

_He always did._

Oh Larry felt pain alright. Right there and then. A whole lot of pain. Often times, even Larry himself couldn't explain quite properly how. His body ached. The dents in his frame  
beckoned for repair.

But his body wasn't the _only_ part of him that hurt...

Then he noticed through hazy eyes, the little boy they had "adopted" (as he strangely preferred calling it) slowly advancing towards him.  
"Larry? You okay?"  
"I'm fine Otto," he said dusting himself off. "Just fine," he continued meekly. _Everything_ is _always_ fine! It was an age old code of etiquette!... But he wasn't. Not one bit. And at the  
back of his head. Something snapped. (Not quite literally, I might add). He made up his mind. For too long had he resisted the urge. But he sure wasn't going to continue that any  
longer.

"Excuse me," he stated in an unusual monotone, picking himself up off the floor. And for a moment, he stopped to stare at the child. Otto returned the gaze and noticed the way  
his eyebrows dipped at he ends. He looked sad. And Otto mirrored his expression. Larry made his way down the hallway without another word.  
"Larry? Where are you going?" Otto called out.  
"A... A little breather Otto. A little breather."  
Larry hated to lie to the boy. But at least there _was_ some truth to it. More or less... And he continued to silently limp out of view.

Over the course of time, Otto had realised that Larry never walked away from a scene without either getting the last word or… Well… Screaming in fright. But he did just that today.  
_Now_ Otto was rather upset. Freud _was_ right. Literally. He turned to stare irritably at the man who was still obsessing about his Mr. Binky.  
"Aw, now look at what you did, Tuddrussel."  
"Huh? Uh… What now?"

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Larry entered the cold, damp room. Boxes upon boxes of spare parts pilled high over one another, most of which had already been damaged. Oh, he was no stranger to the place.  
Making his way inside, stepping over to a box, he rummaged for a head.

"Ah."

Staring at his own face in the palm of his hand, Larry replayed all the scenarios in that internal hard drive of his which ended up with him having to pay the room a visit. He winced  
at all the horrid memories he had on board this satellite.

"No more, ol' boy." he told himself. "No more."

He had himself fixed in a jiffy and carried a large crate out the room.

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"Yeah right! _Like_ i'm gonna say sorry to that worthless tin can."  
"Stupid robot!"  
"What did I do anyway?"

Tuddrussel. In a state of denial. Typical.

"That robot was never good with anything 'round here anyways!"  
"Go ahead and try talk to that piece of scrap metal, Otto! Just so you know, you're crossing over to the dark side! The daaaaark side!" he hollered, fist clenched tight in the  
air.

...and the monologue goes on...

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	2. Chapter 2

The satellite echoed the sound of a little bespectacled eight year old. "Laaaarrrryyyyy?" If Tuddrussel wasn't going to apologize, he himself might as well say something to him. Just to make things a wee bit better.

"Apologize." Otto thought. "Yeah right." When he realized the man in question was... Well... Tuddrussel.  
Domisphere? No. Kitchen? No. Skating rink? No. Studio 3K? Nope. Prison cells? Definitely not. Control room?

Bingo.

Otto scurried over to Larry who sat perched on a stool, sending in some codes into the main computer. Larry was oblivious to the small boy who had come from behind him,greeting and waving, right up until he noticed him tugging at his arm. Lifting his hands off the keyboard, Larry turned to face the child.  
"Oh hello, Otto."

Otto noticed the far off look in Larry's eyes. The far off sound in his speech. Something was amiss. Out of the corner of his eye, Otto caught sight of a box chock-a-block full of spare parts and large briefcase by the side of the door. Otto didn't return the drifting sound of the greeting from the robot.  
"Larry? What's that for?" Otto cried, pointing.

Otto hoped the fears swirling in his head weren't true. And he waited uneasily for any response. Larry,very weary indeed, sighed. Otto, still waiting for an answer watched as Larry got off the stool to kneel down in front of him. He felt Larry's hand rest on his left shoulder. For a second, we could tell from the look in Larry's eyes. He had serious doubts on whether to continue what he was set on doing today.

KLANG!

The doors fell to the floor, having taken in a sharp kick from Tuddrussel's humungous boot. Though what was the point? The doors would have slid open anyway...

But Tuddrussel was grinning from ear to ear.

"Ottooooo! Wanna play a little Super-Extreme-Spar-Tag?"  
He whipped out a pair of phasers from his belt and shot wildly through the room leaving Larry and Otto to duck for cover.  
"Hey, what's Rust-Butt doing here?" Tuddrussel's huge smile turned into a frown the moment he noticed Larry in the room. With a nasty grimace, Tuddrussel pointed both his  
phasers in Larry's direction and pulled the trigger again and again, as fast as his fingers let him.

"Aaaaahaaaaaahahaow!" Larry shrieked with sheer terror as he scrambled for cover behind a stool. Miraculously, though the top of the stool had been blown into smithereens,  
Larry was virtually unscathed.

Tuddrussel guffawed in amusement.

And all doubt on whether Larry's final decision was the right thing to do had ceased to exist. He yearned to do this now and get it over and done with. Larry left out the frills and  
went straight to the point with Tuddrussel. It needed no sugar coating. He went right up to the man and poked at his chest to prove his point.

"I'm leaving, Tuddrussel."  
"Well goooooood RIDDANCE," Tuddrussel spat in Larry's face and pushed the scrawny heap of metal out of his view.

Larry turned to face Otto again. He didn't need to be told that Otto was well and truly shocked and that there were a million questions buzzing around in his oversized head.  
Larry's voice was calm and steady.

"I've sent a letter of resignation to headquarters to which was promptly accepted," Larry addressed the two others in the room. "I'm going back to my diplomat days. Earth Council has called me back for the use of my diplomatic skills to tame an on-going dispute between the western and eastern Super Nation. The argument doesn't seem to want to be settled… I have packed my things, I will be leaving today. And Tuddrussel, you'd know such events were taking place if you actually bothered to read the papers."  
"Hey! I _DO_ read the papers, wise guy! And I don't see nothing about it!"  
"OTHER than the sports section."

That surprisingly managed to shut the big guy up.

"You're going back to your old job again?" Otto asked blankly. He hadn't expected things to happen so fast.

Larry spun around to look at the sullen boy who was addressing him.

"In a way. But there aren't such things as ambassadors anymore, Otto. I don't actually hold an official post at the moment, but my work leans very much towards being somewhat of a representative to the Earth," Larry spoke in-a-matter-of-factly.

"C'mon. You ain't that great, weenie boy," Tuddrussel berated, refusing to believe the responsibility Larry had been given to rest on his shoulders. "You're just making that up. Heck, I'd be happy if you were leavin' cause you had to go clean _toilets_ or something!"

Larry held on to his composure and bit his feelings back, deciding rather to respond in a more dignified manner. (Which he often failed at trying when dealing with Tuddrussel)  
"Think what you wish to think, Tuddrussel." Larry turned his back away from the man and muttered under his breath. "I'd like to see _you_ clean toilets." _The big oaf would just get  
__thirsty on the job and get his head stuck in one_. This, Larry knew.

"Are you leaving forever, Larry?"

Otto had been dying to get that in.

As Otto gazed up at Larry, hoping for a hint of emotion on his face, instead an awfully serious Larry spoke to him.  
"As I've mentioned. The conflict is ongoing. It'd be entirely impossible to determine as to how long it will continue. Weeks. Months. Years maybe."  
"You don't have any idea?" Otto raised his voice in disbelief.  
"No, Otto," came the response. Solemn as ever.

Larry restrained from telling the boy that he had no desires to work with Time Squad any longer. Years and years of living, stuck in a government satellite with only an animal of a  
man for company did NOT do wonders. Diplomacy was in his oil. It'd be better if the boy didn't know. It'd be better for himself too, knowing that the boy didn't know.  
Larry knew. He knew, he knew, he knew he couldn't let his feelings get in the way of the greater good. For the people of earth, and right now, especially for himself. This was his  
moment to finally live and forget the animal that Tuddrussel was ever existed. And Otto new this too. He was well wise beyond his years. So he took it in strides.

Larry gave Otto a little pat on the head. Looking at Otto, Larry wished that he could at least bring the boy back to Earth with him. To see the child grow up cultured, accountable  
and well-mannered. He'd have taken it as one of his many responsibilities any day. But the boy had big responsibilities too. Tuddrussel would probably cause the death of  
humanity itself trying to fix up history on his own.

"Now don't you worry your little head off, young man." Larry said reassuringly. I know you'll be fine ensuring the past to protect our future without my help. Just make  
sure _genius_ here doesn't make a pickle of things," he ended sarcastically. "You'll hear from me."

Ever the diplomat, he turned to Tuddrussel (who surprisingly, had actually payed attention to what Larry was saying) and stuck out his servo of a hand attempting at a civilized  
farewell, bidding him one last handshake.

"Get that dirty thing away from me!" Tuddrussel growled slapping Larry's hand away. Tuddrussel was enraged as he continued to edge forward towards Larry, arms stretched out  
in front, ready to wring him dry, who responded by cautiously staggering backwards.  
"Oh how uncouth! I don't have the _slightest_ as to _HOW_ I could have been such an _idiot_ to have put on hold my _one_ chance back to a _fabulous_ life, back to my GLORY days!" Larry took in a deep breath. "WITHOUT YOU!"

Larry darted to his box and briefcase, hauled them up onto his back in a hurry and ran out the door, through the hallway as fast as his legs could carry him, and finally stopped in  
front of the airlock, well aware that Tuddrussel was hot on his heels the whole way, Otto tagging along. Frantically punching in a code to activate the opening mechanism of the  
airlock, the huge metal doors slid open and he wasted no time getting in, before a raging Tuddrussel picked him up and flung him to the back of the airlock. Tuddrussel reached for  
the big red button beside the doors and brutally smashed his fist into the panel. Through the thick glass of the metal doors steadily closing, he and Otto watched as Larry  
scrambled into the automated spacecraft at the far end of the chute.

"Well, this is it," Larry whispered to himself, smile on his face, zero regret in his soul (neatly tucked away in a little metal box in his chest, I presume). He made a final gesture of  
goodbye to Otto. With a flick of the switch, he was off, the autopilot guiding him home.

Otto and Tuddrussel continued to watch as the soundless spacecraft hurtled towards Mother Earth.  
Otto stared into space. No pun intended."He's... Gone..."

After a long moment's pause, and after the spacecraft had all but disappeared into the deep depths of space... Tuddrussel broke the silence.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! OH YEAH! OH YEAH BABY! I WIN! IT'S GO TIME! WOOOOO!"  
So ecstatic was he that he had to run! Liberation! "THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE, BABY! WOOOO!"

And Otto watched as Tuddrussel ran off down the hallway balling his fists above his head. Not a moment's to soon did Tuddrussel run back beaming at Otto with two cans of spray  
cheese in hand.

"SUPER-EXTREME-SPAR-TAG! MINUS THE SISSY ROBOTS!" Tuddrussel shouted as he hurled a can to into Otto's hands.

_Well look on the bright side, Otto... This is a plus… Oh! And you don't have to watch them fighting like crazy anymore! Even better!_

And they ran off to play (or in other words, wreck the satellite). This time round, zero interference.

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Larry's trip to space was uneventful. Just as he liked it. He finally managed to read his favourite novels in his ultimate solace. Smiling contently;  
"Ah. Which shall it be now?"  
He fingered through a few novels he had brought with him. Pushing aside the Plasmadiscs of his favourite 1980's soap opera, he pulled out a thick book and opened it to the page  
he had previously stopped at. "Ah, Jackie Collins. I return..." Glee in his voice.

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	3. Chapter 3

Laughter all throughout the satellite as the game of Super-Extreme-Spar-Tag continued. Otto was chasing Tuddrussel down the one of the many winding corridors when  
suddenly...

KER-POW!

"What was that?" Tuddrussel looked round a corner where he thought the noise had come from.  
The same question had Otto wondering too.  
"I think it came from the control room!" Otto cried as he led the way.

Pressed against the wall, Otto and Tuddrussel peeped through the side of the doors.  
"I don't see any-AAAAA!" as Otto turned to face Tuddrussel only to find a heavily built robot standing right behind the both of them.  
"What the heck is Shelia's guy doing here?" Tuddrussel demanded as he grabbed hold of one of the robot's thick reinforced arms.  
"Let go" said the robot, twisting Tuddrussel off his arm with much ease.

"XJ5?" Otto asked, referring to one of the only two other robots he had come to know. "What are YOU doing here?"  
"I am not XJ5. I am XJ93. Time Squad robot unit."  
"Geez. They sent in another one of them darn robots to 'help' us. At least _this_ one ain't LARRY", Tuddrussel said, rubbing his arm. "Whatever," he added before emptying his can of  
Cheese Whiz onto Otto's face.

"You're Super-Extreme IT!" he laughed, zooming down the aisle.  
Otto gave chase, wiping the gunk off his glasses.  
"Not for long, Copper!"

And XJ93 merely looked at them.

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"Landing successful," the automated voice rang out as light bathed through the window of Larry's space pod. How long had it been since the last time on earth in the current  
millennia that Larry knows and loves? How long had he been cooped up with that gorilla of a man? Such questions disappeared from Larry's head as he stepped out into the  
sunshine, onto good old terra firma, Earth National Spaceport. Too long. Oh, how he could just kiss the soil. Just when he thought he was actually about to do so, a hand grasped  
his shoulder from behind and he turned to face his old companion in a formal breast coat, signature moustache and all. Boy, was Larry glad he put on a suit and a tie for the  
occasion. The last time he actually wore the thing was during a mission with Kubla Khan. _A naked diplomat? Now imagine that!_

"Lawrence old chap!" came a hearty laugh and a wiggling from a thick, brown moustache.  
"My, my! Senator Fiskmeyer!" Larry let out, spreading out his arms for a long-time-no-see hug.

Fiskmeyer gladly reached out for one of Larry's outstretched hands and shook it with gusto in both hands. Politician's handshake. One Larry had gotten used to during his diplomat days.

"Good show!" he rumbled through his caterpillar moustache.  
"How long has it been, Senator?"  
"Too long. Too long." Fiskmeyer was still holding on to Larry's hand, and still shaking it. "And what a pleasure it is to have you back working on the team, Lawrence! It's written in  
history, 'ol boy! We represent the founders of the Super Nation!" Fiskmeyer swept his hand right across the sky, fuelling the thought with grandiose, this time shaking Larry's  
shoulder.

And at once, Larry felt a sense of appreciation. Finally he thought.

Finally.

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	4. Chapter 4

"YOU'RE IT!" Otto chirped, and darted away laughing, a carton of eggs in hand.  
"Oh no you don't, Lil' Man!" cried Tuddrussel wiping the egg off his face and ran after. The two stopped in their tracks as soon as the instability alarm went off. "That's  
our call!"

XJ93 was already in the control room when Tuddrussel and Otto entered. XJ93 was connected to the main computer by a thick wire leading from his chest into a socket by the side  
of the monitor.

The screen buzzed, popped and crackled to produce an image in black and white.

"Tunku Abdul Rahman!" Otto shouted, not bothering to contain his earnestness.  
"The what?" Tuddrussel said, scratching his head.  
"Tunku Abdul Rahman was-"

Otto was cut of by XJ93;

"Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 and the country's first Prime Minister from independence in 1957. He remained as the Prime Minister after Sabah, Sarawak,  
and Singapore joined the federation in 1963 to form Malaysia. "

"He-, "Otto began, but was cut short again.

"Along with others, made a trip to London to negotiate Malayan independence, and 31 August 1957 was decided as the date for independence. When the British flag was lowered  
in Kuala Lumpur on independence day, Abdul Rahman led the crowd in announcing "Merdeka!" (independence)," XJ93 concluded.

"How... Did you know that?" Otto asked, rather taken aback.  
"Wikipedia. Is in my software. I was _designed_ for this job, little boy."  
"Oh okay then… Anyway, we weren't properly introduced. I'm Otto Osworth! But you can call me Otto!" Otto piped up cheerfully, though he was a little upset he didn't get to  
complete his sentence and state the facts. That was _his_ job…

XJ93 look at the puny creature with disinterest. "Little boy."  
"Er…Yeah, you can call me that If you want." said Otto, giving in.  
"It's go time! WOO! At least THIS robot's good for SOMETHING."  
"But Larry was good at lots of-"  
Tuddrussel cleared his throat rather obnoxiously. "I _SAID_ IT'S GO TIME! C'mon, Otto!"

The three hopped onto the time pad and were soon plunging down a worm hole at speeds faster than that of light.

It was the thirty-first of August 1957. They had zapped right outside a large stadium on a bright and sunny day.  
"Ooh," Otto exclaimed, taking in the sight of thousands upon thousands of people gathered to witness their country's independence. "Today is Malaysia's day of independence!  
And right now were about to see-"

Otto stopped short his sentence when he saw Tuddrussel walking away with XJ93 into the view of the crowd.

"Hey, Tuddrussel! Guys! Wait up!"

Tuddrussel stood behind XJ93 and watched him effortlessly twist an opening through the wrought iron fence that surrounded the stadium.  
"Now this is what REAL robots are supposed to do!" exclaimed Tuddrussel, clearly impressed.

Half a second later, XJ93 made his way sifting through the stands, filled to the brim with throngs of people eagerly waiting for the proclamation to be made. Swiftly, XJ93 entered  
a code on his wrist, and out from his eyes, came a string of laser beams, scanning the area, 360 degrees as the robot's head made one full turn. He had found his victim. People  
stared as the menacing robot clank up to a man who was huddled in a corner, dressed in black traditional clothing and thick brow-lined glasses.

"You are Tunku Abdul Rahman. Am I right?" XJ93 asked firmly.  
"N-no," the man lied.  
"YES." XJ93 said, forcefully grabbing the man up by his arm.  
"Yes yes okay! What do you ant from me?"  
"GO UP TO THE PODIUM AND SHOUT INDEPENDENCE THREE TIMES NOW." XJ93 threatened the man with a huge laser cannon that came ominously humming, sliding out his wrist.  
"Oh dear! Okay okay okay okay. I will I will! Just... Get it away from me!"  
XJ93 had the weapon slide back into his wrist and loosened his grip on Tunku's arm. The frightened man darted for his life up to the podium as the three characters witnessed history on the making.

Tunku Abdul Rahman led the crowd.  
"MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!"

"Well that's what happened in the history books," Otto said absently.  
"What, that's it? Man, I love this job!" said Tuddrussel grinning, meaning every single word.  
And XJ93 systematically zapped them back home.

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After a few minutes trip, chauffeur service provided entirely by Earth Council, Larry listened to the music of the dangling of his old keys as they unlocked the door to his room in the  
old grey apartment down Kshdcgkehdgdc Street. And nostalgia entered his... Smelling mechanism...  
Everything was where it had been since he left all those years ago. A small, quaint room. Its slightly degenerative state was all the charm. The regal crimson curtains, gold  
coloured framed bed, the pink quilt back when he first learnt to sew serving as the covers, familiar Persian rug, old television set, worn and torn two-seater, wet kitchen, and the  
veranda with a view of the metropolis in the distance… Oh! And even his old Jane Fonda aerobics Plasmadiscs. He had forgotten about those! This was very nice. Very dusty, but  
very nice. Tuddrussel was long gone now and he was living life a new. He set his box and briefcase by the door and shut it locked. _Why had he brought that silly box along with him  
__anyway? Tuddrussel was all the way up in space floating around in a rusty old satellite…_ He moved over to the far corner of the room and lay his papers down on the Javanese wood-  
carved end table. He'd have to read up on them soon. After all, he had been isolated on an outdated satellite in dire need of repair for over... How many years was it now? He  
knew that he had to catch up on current law and events. But he didn't fret. The world needed a robot of his stature to sift through and analyse the writing. He was in his element.  
And he was definitely up to par.

Larry took another look round his cosy dwelling. It was a delightful opportunity to get some cleaning done. And Larry loved cleaning.

To know to have set up the perfect environment for optimal living.

To stare at the reflection of yourself in the gleaming kitchen sink and tell yourself a job well done. To have someone come up to you to sincerely _thank_ you for your custodial services.

Which Larry never got.

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	5. Chapter 5

Tuddrussel enjoyed Larry's absence and all the nagging he brought along with him. _Humph_. _Like he knew what was best for him_. _Why, if Larry were here, he'd have Otto and him stop  
__destroying the satellite at once!_

"Man, I'm starved!" Tuddrussel complained as he absently threw his umpteenth empty can of cheese spray into the mess of glass, ceramics and wood that he had created.  
"Yeah me too," Otto said, trying to squeeze out the last bit of Cheese-Whiz into his empty stomach.

"ROBOT!" Tuddrussel called out to XJ93 and twisted his head to the corner where XJ93 stood motionless."Geez, you've been standing there since like forever."  
"Yes."  
"I'm dying here."  
"Ok."  
"Well whip us up some grub, man!"  
"Yes."

XJ93 finally stirred from the position he had been frozen in for hours.  
He walked out the room and Tuddrussel called out after him.

"And we only eat burgers, nachos, steak and stuff like that! REAL food! That means; NO FOO-FOO!"

And the robot disappeared from sight.

"Let's go, Otto!"

Tuddrussel and Otto sat at the round table eagerly waiting to satisfy their ravenous appetites.

XJ93 walked up to the table and set before them a feast before their eyes. Well to _Tuddrussel's_ eyes, at least. Otto didn't mind eating anything Larry cooked. Foo-foo or otherwise.  
To Tuddrussel however, anything that resembled a burger was delicious. Even if it was a sock. Burger after burger after pizza after burrito vanished down Tuddrussel's throat_.  
__Manners-shmanners_. Those didn't exist anymore with Larry out of the way. (Although it's not as though he even thought of such a thing when Larry _was_ around anyway.) Otto bit into his burger. It was rather... Off... But the hungry child reluctantly finished it anyway.

"I uh. Gotta use the bathroom... Bye!" a considerably green Otto excused himself for the table and ran out the kitchen at full speed. XJ93 stood in a corner motionless and stared.

Stared at the food that disappeared down Tuddrussel's gut. And Tuddrussel just kept on walloping his fill. Although, magnificently, he did realise that they were rather hard to swallow.

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Larry stared at himself in the gleaming kitchen sink."Thanks, Larry."

He walked over to the end table to begin reading his documents. Scanning through the abundance of words, the hours went by in a flash and soon he was in his favourite pink  
night robe ready to call it a day. He would have to start work as soon as possible. And he already had a plenary to take care of next thing tomorrow morning.

Larry woke up to the song of birds outside his window. He lay in bed staring at the large portrait of himself, hung on the wall of his room.  
"Fantastic artistry," he told himself. Naturally. He did paint it himself after all.

He hopped out of bed, ready for a brand new day, sans Tuddrussel, and shuddered at the thought of the man. He headed into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Well. At least until  
he realized that nobody was going to eat anything anyway. Instead he suited up, practised his lines in front of the kitchen sink and headed outside. No chauffeur this time. Taxi was his mode of transport from now on.

The building was just as he had remembered it. A grand stone structure preserved for just under a hundred million years.  
"Beautiful," as he admired the historical building where all things concerning the Earth took place. The Earth Convention Centre. He was standing at the centre of the world. And he was part of it again. At this point, Larry didn't want to go back to the satellite. Ever. But the thought of little Otto didn't help to strengthen that thought. Inside the marble finish of the building, strutting around in tailored suits, strode men and women of class. These were Larry's people. But he had no time to mingle with the big cats. He had bigger things to take care of.

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	6. Chapter 6

Otto sat at the breakfast table staring at his hot dog. After last week, (and the days that followed), he didn't dare touch the thing. (He could've sworn that last night's dinner was  
a sock). Not too long after, a groggy Tuddrussel slumped into the chair in front of Otto, yawning and sheepishly scratching his chin. He propped his legs up on the table beside his  
plate. One of Larry's many pet peeves. But he knew Larry wasn't going to stop him now ha-ha! _He ain't even here!_

_He ain't here_.

Tuddrussel spread out the newspapers he had in hand and flipped straight to the sports section. Then Otto noticed the headlines.

"Hey Tuddrussel! Look!"  
"What, kid?" The grumpy officer barely looked up.  
"It's Larry! Larry's in the news!" Otto excitedly stood on his chair to point it out on Tuddrusel's paper which the man immediately slammed down onto the table.  
"Don't you _DARE_ mention that good-for-nothing excuse-for-a-robot's name here on this satellite, Otto!" Tuddrussel roared, startling the little boy. And XJ93 looked at them both like a statue from his favourite corner in the kitchen. Now Otto here was taken by surprise by Tuddrussel's sudden outburst. But he wasn't at the least bit intimidated.

"Why are you still mad at him?"  
"Because he left!"

Otto would have said something more. But that wasn't exactly the answer he was expecting. Was it? So he shut his gap and let Tuddrussel read his papers in peace.

Without even tearing his gaze from the papers, Tuddrussel squished his breakfast between his fingers and shoved it into his mouth. It was a disgusting excuse for a taco. _But it  
__was still a taco, right?_

Red, blue, red, blue, went the flash of the history instability alarm. XJ93 broke off from being a statue in the corner and soon, the three stood on the time pad and were zapped off  
in mass of light.

A split second later, they were zapped back on the satellite.

"Well that wasn't doing much…" Otto broke the silence, all three having not moved from their initial positions for the last thirty seconds.  
"Huh? Yes it was." Tuddrussel complied.  
"But all he does is scare the doo doo out of people with his scary LASER cannon to make them do things and just leaves us standing there doing absolutely nothing! That's not  
right, Tuddrussel! That's all he, or you, or I have been doing since you-know-who left!"  
"Pfft! What are you talking about? 'Ol XJ93 here made our lives a gazillion buh-jillion times easier right? He made sure that Graham Cracker guy did his whole philosophy thing right  
just now, isn't that right? Huh, isn't that rrrrrriiiigghhht?" Tuddrussel laid an arm round XJ93's shoulders and started shaking himwith the other, coaxing him on. "Huh? Isn't that right? You made everything better! You're EVERYTHING Larry never was!" wheezed Tuddrussel through clenched teeth and the biggest grin on his face Otto had ever seen, finished off with nerve-jangling bloodshot eyes.

And XJ93 was his usual statuesque self.

"Tuddrussel? Are you... Feeling alright?" Otto asked.  
Tuddrussel gently lifted his hands off XJ93's shoulders and stooped down to talk to Otto. "Yeah, Otto. Never been better..." Tuddrussel stared at the kid a little longer. "Betcha can't beat my high score! Hahahah!"

Tuddrussel ran to the living room, Otto right behind his back.  
"By the way! It's Graham _Bell_!"

Half am hour later, XJ93 walked through the doors of the living room to hear 'little boy' and Tuddrussel throwing playful insults at each other, eyes glued to the flashing lights on a  
screen, joy pads in their hands. He stood in his corner. And stared. There was absolutely _nothing_ going on inside his head. Absolutely nothing. Until the boys played their eyes  
square.

00000000000000

Thoughts ricocheted in and about Larry's head, having just returned from a stressful general assembly. He hung his clothes on the hooks behind the door. He hadn't the slightest  
that eastern relations with the west were as terrible as he had witnessed in that hall. Chairs flying across the room! Unheard of! Actually, it wasn't, really. Larry had almost  
forgotten the nasty details in his previous work as a diplomat. The two sides were on the path to an actual war. World War III, as they would come to know it. The last time there  
was such a thing... Well, it took place almost a hundred million years ago! If the super nation wasn't formed though, a war would have actually taken place a few years before the  
present. _So it was HIS duty to-_

_Whatever._

_Whatever!_

Larry wanted to flush the worst out from his thoughts. He unloaded his groceries and turned his attention to the stove. Cooking was his passion. So it comes to no surprise that he managed to whip up a well roasted turkey within minutes, having it laid out neatly on the table. Humming happily to himself, he drenched the turkey in gravy and neatly plonked a mascherano cherry on the top of his masterpiece to finish it off.

And of course he didn't eat it. Firstly, he couldn't. Even if he could, he wouldn't. It was disgusting. He couldn't think of anyone on earth who would actually want to eat such a thing besides... A certain... _OH sheesh!_ Larry didn't want to look at it anymore. It annoyed him too much. He could do so many other things.

Propped up on his sofa, pen in hand, a pastel pink book, **'PRIVATE SECRETS**' in the other, he flipped through a few pages and then chucked it onto the coffee table. The sheer  
amount of "Tuddrussel" in there disgusted him. Just as the turkey did. But he STILL needed to de-stress. Cleaning? Boring. Painting? It'll have to do. Just a second... He didn't bring his easel and paints along. He didn't even bring his lucky beret along. Why, barely brought _anything_ along! Was he actually planning to leave for good? He didn't know. His  
thoughts were all a flurry at the time he left. Larry buried his face in his hands. And he was NOT having fun right now…

No! _OF COURSE_ he was!

...

...

Hair-raisingly crazy missions were always fun... Outings in the Domisphere... Gardening while listening to the amazing sound effects of Future Man and Sidekick Boy was fun... Family nights spent together watching 'The Elegant and the Dangerous' was fun... Nagging and pissing off the big moron was fun... Even _being_ pissed off was fun... Playing *Twister* with Tuddrussel was Larry's favourite game... _Very_ fun.

...

...

_What? N-no it wasn't… THIS is fun. This is SO fun_. This is _SO... stupid_.

Larry fell asleep on the sofa giving his drained batteries a chance to fill themselves back up.

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	7. Chapter 7

The monotony of life. Going through the monotony of life. Going through the motions. Completing missions was no problem for _this_ Time Squad unit. _HO no. Scaring the doo doo out  
__of people worked best, alright_!

Tuddrussel's face, arms were sprawled out on the dining table. Plate of nachos placed in front of him still untouched. Otto had developed a natural immunity to food poisoning. That was the plus side of everything.

Supposedly.

"Psssst. Otto... Otto!" Tuddrussel sharply whispered to get the boy's attention.  
Otto looked up from his plate. "What?"  
"Is he still there?"  
Otto looked over Tuddrussel's massive shoulder. "Yes. That's the third time you asked me in the last five minutes!"

XJ93 was standing in his designated corner.

Silence.

"YAAAAARGH!" Tuddrussel shot up from his seat with his fists clenched above his head. He grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on and flung the plate of nachos at  
XJ93's face.

"YOU DON'T MOVE DARN-IT!" Tuddrussel shouted, his hand and pointer outstretched at the nacho-encrusted robot. Otto stared at Tuddrussel open-mouthed, as the man leapt  
towards him, finding himself being lifted off his chair as Tuddrussel continued to shout.  
"I can't take no more of this freaky freakazoid, man! It's gonna KILL us, Otto!" Tuddrussel squashed Otto under his armpit and made sure he ran far, far away.

"Whew! That was close!" Tuddrussel panted, turning into a room, and wiped the sweat off his face. "I saved your life, Lil' Man! Tuddrussel put Otto down onto the floor of the living room.  
"Thanks, but I don't think he was gonna kill us, Tuddrussel."

Tuddrussel wasn't listening.

"Hey Otto, you wanna play Super-Extreme-Spar-Tag?"  
Otto figured he didn't feel like playing with Tuddrussel in such state of unease. He could see right through the guy's goggles. "Nah. Not now. Besides, we've already messed this satellite up plenty."  
"Freakazoid can clean it up when were done! Please! Please!" Tuddrussel got down on his knees begging like a dog for Otto to play.

Otto couldn't understand why Tuddrussel was so anxious to play but he REALLY wasn't in the mood at the moment.

"Look. I really feel like doing something _else_ right now. We've played that game twice today already. And every other day before this. I'm gonna go get my colouring books. Is that okay?"  
"Yeah... Okay. That'ssss... Great! I'll just. Sit down on this here sofa and watch!" Tuddrussel said, grinning in cold sweat.  
"Why not? If you want."

Otto produced his favourite 'Evil Dictator's Colouring Book' and crayons from a drawer at the far end of the room. He flopped on to the rug and began colouring in the spaces. Tuddrussel had his trembling hands fisted on each side of his lap.

Heavy sweating followed.

The fact that Otto was busily scratching away at the book with his crayons didn't occur to Tuddrussel at the time. But it eventually did. And _WHEN_ it did, he got up with his hands  
innocently behind his back, and slowly walked over to the boy who was still in a trance with his crayons. And evil dictators.  
"Hey… That's a nice one there," Tuddrussel complemented inattentively.  
"Hey, really? Thanks!" Otto replied in appreciation and looked up at Tuddrussel staring down at the pile of crayons to his right.

"Ummmm, Tuddrussel? You want to colour too?"

Otto didn't get a response. Instead, the black crayon he had in his hand was snatched right out of it and went running off in the hands of a mad man-child.  
"Tuddrussel! What are you doing?" Otto wasn't going to let him get away. It didn't have so much to do with wanting his crayon back, but rather the weirdness of it all. But  
Tuddrussel was much too fast for Otto's stumpy little legs. But he was itching to know what Tuddrussel was up to. And he was about to find out.

Tuddrussel couldn't run forever. And Otto knew that he couldn't hide. It was the young boy's common sense that eventually led him to the gym. Otto  
heard a scuffling. Tuddrussel was definitely in there. Before he peered inside, he wondered how his little black crayon could have caused all the commotion in the room. And when  
he _did_ catch sight of Tuddrussel, the officer was strangling a detached, tattered punching bag and... Calling it names? He'd seen Tuddrussel do a _LOT_ of peculiar things before, but... _Wait a__ second_... Otto lifted his glasses to rub his eyes and focus them on the scribbles on one end of the punching bag. Tuddrussel had definitely attempted to draw a face. And Otto could well and truly tell it was the face of a smiling robot. And there was only ONE robot who smiled in Otto and Tuddrussel's lives.

"I _HATE_ you, buddy!" And Tuddrussel gave his buddy one last headbutt and slowly curled up on the floor with his arm wound tight around the punching bag next to his face. Repeating a name. He sucked on the thumb of his other hand and started rocking back and forth. But he was oblivious to the bespectacled boy curiously watching him from outside the doors.

And then they both became aware of the freakazoid standing in the shadows at the corner of the room.

Screams of terror Tuddrussel shot out the gym.

**00000000000000**

Larry returned to his humble abode late one night. The menacing grey apartment down Kshdcgkehdgdc street. Same scenario for the past few weeks. And he just couldn't find the  
time to check in on Otto. But he didn't lack a social life as you or I would imagine. He saw Senator Fiskmeyer almost every day at work. They always had their little chats. Politics,  
politics. Law. Politics. He _did_ enjoy it in the past… But he grew interests in so many other things back on the satellite that Fiskmeyer's favourite subject matter was but a  
microscopic drop in the ocean. Queen Jezebel III was slightly more bearable though. She had a _terrific_ sense of fashion. And then, there were those _other_ men...

But who was he kidding! All these uppity creatures were Larry's kind of people to certain lengths, and yet, they were terribly _NOT_. They were all boring old bags and Larry was _much __much more _than a boring old bag. Although he slightly preferred to keep his inner audaciousness to himself, he _knew_ he was hiding in a prissy shell. Which he had to admit was a part of him too. And often times there'd be cracks in said shell, which he really didn't mind most of the time. And Larry didn't remember being that way years and years ago. Just what exactly had made himself the way he was now? Or specifically... _Who? _But he had realised that back then, his earlier days as an ambassador, there was a certain feeling deep inside his gut waiting to erupt. He felt like erupting all over again, right here and now.

Such were his musings as he locked the door behind him. So deep were his thoughts that night that he had almost forgotten about the large dent on his forehead. Every day here on Earth was uneventful. Just as he _hated_ it. And on certain days, during his assemblies when tensions were high, chairs, papers, books would be sent flying through the room and _this_ one chair caught him right smack in the cranium. He'd better get that fixed.

"Humans are _so_ hard to satisfy," he sighed aloud, rubbing his aching metal joints."...and so am I."

He bent over to the crate of spare parts he had still lying there behind the door. _Now_ he remembered why he had brought it along with him in the first place. They were ruthless  
creatures.

He rummaged for a head.

"Ah."

Staring at his own face in the palm of his hand, Larry recalled the day he had built an exact clone of himself and how they started building copies of themselves uncontrollably until  
there were a thousand and one of them swarming the satellite. And Larry's expression softened into a smile. It was _that_ day, the day he had seized the opportunity to  
don his cowboy outfit and favourite boots that he had lying in the closet for too long. (Larry liked cowboys). Larry smiled in triumphant for taking refuge in his boldness that day. He smiled a little more. That the world would never know...

He smiled at all of the fond memories he had on board the satellite.

Then he stopped smiling altogether.

He stared at his face, silent a little longer.  
"Rust-butt," he told it.  
"RUST-BUTT," he said again, raising his voice.

"RUST-BUTT!"

He stood staring at it a while more, sighed, and had himself fixed up.

"Rust-Butt..."

...

"...Why haven't I written that down yet?..."

But that night, Larry didn't have any time to write anything down. He spent the wee hours of the morning hard at work at the coffee table, in front of him, a big crate of spare  
parts, a wrench, pliers and a welding torch among others.


	8. Chapter 8

The sun's rays brilliantly lit up the otherwise dreary room through the curtains by the time Larry was satisfied.

He screwed his detached legs back in place and carried himself up off the sofa.

He had all his documents, paperwork; everything set in his briefcase and then buckled the two halves closed. Looking dapper in his suit and tie, Larry was ready to finish the job.  
And he was off to the Earth Convention Centre.

A prism-shaped block with the word "EARTH" engraved in gold lay in front of where he sat. Larry had rapidly gained influence since his return and was now highly recognised  
among both the elite and the masses. The state of the planet was in his hands. He knew the facts.

The room listened as East Nation's representative wrapped up his speech. The war was inevitable. What on earth could Larry (or anyone for that matter) do _now_, anyway?

The speaker of the house turned to Larry.

"Mr. Lawrence 3000 to speak."  
And he complied.  
"Speaker Dawkins, Ladies and gentlemen of the house. A very good day to all. If I may. I've a suggestion to make."  
"Come forth, Lawrence 3000." Speaker Dawkins's voice resonated throughout the hall.

By this time, the whole chunk of what was left of Larry's sanity had simultaneously vanished, as the crowd gasped watching the prominent figure of a robot climbing wildly atop the table. To dramatize the whole thing, Larry gave us one of his evil laughs. He did so as he savagely ripped the clothes off his wiry metal frame, screamed at the top of his voice,  
"NAKED IS BEAUTIFUL!" (even more gasps and screams from the crowd) and held his microphone up to his mouth. The gathered gawked awestruck at the crazed robot  
addressing them, the continuous flash of cameras as his backdrop.

"Oh _I_ tell you _what_!" Larry began screaming into the microphone. "I suggest all you people look at each other, stop fighting like the smelly and uncivilised baboons that you  
all _sooo_ positively are, and GO _HOME_!"

Larry bent down to prod the man who was sitting nearby mouth agape, and continued blasting his rant into the microphone."GO HOME TO YOUR FAMILY!"

The crowd was too dazed to respond.

"WHAT? YOU PEOPLE DONT KNOW _HOW_?"

Still no response.

"THEN _WATCH_ ME."

Larry snatched his briefcase off the table and hit the crimson button on his chest. Black smoke spewed out from under his feet, spurts, an explosion, and a crash. Larry had blasted through the window of the building screaming, and was heading up to space. Blue flames trailed him from under his feet. Larry was zooming well into the stratosphere when the plenary came to the conclusion (and senses) that the beautifully naked diplomat was right.

The confrontation was ended for good.

The slight modification in Larry's legs carried him all the way through the atmosphere, into space to the familiar orbiting body within a matter of minutes. Just as he _did_ reach the airtight hatch on the underside of the satellite, he turned off his new jet propelled self and with all his worth, twisted the wheel of his 'freedom' open.

00000000000000


	9. Chapter 9

Otto was shuffling down the long and winding corridors until he bumped into a certain robot's leg. Looking up, He was expecting to see XJ93's impassive face staring him down. But he got quite the opposite.

Larry's features softened at the sight of the boy wrapping his arms around his leg.  
"Surprise, surprise," Larry cooed, playfully ruffling his hand through Otto's ginger hair.  
"Not really," Otto said still holding on tight to Larry's leg. "It was so obvious you were gonna come home anyway."

Larry cocked an eyebrow. _Was he REALLY that predictable?_

00000000000000

Tuddrussel could have sworn it was just one of those figments of his imagination when he saw Otto excitedly tugging a very familiar robot towards him. Smiling and screaming his  
name."He's back, he's back! Look, Tuddrussel! Larry's back for good!"

And the robot was smiling at him too.

When Tuddrussel took his chances that his imagination wasn't letting him down, part of him was screaming to hug the guy till he died. But the larger part of him hammered and  
drilled the words into his head; "Don't do it, big guy. 'Specially not with Otto looking. You're a man." Tuddrussel squeezed his eyes shut and bit down on his lip, listening to the voice in his head; "You're a man!"

Larry didn't want to have the first word. He waited in anticipation for the man whom he hadn't seen in weeks (who oddly looked as though he'd die if he didn't find a bathroom  
within the next thirty seconds) to do something. Anything.

"You're a man," that little voice kept telling him. "You're a man!" "You're a man!" "You're a man!"  
"YOU'RE A MAN!" Tuddrussel blurted out at, sending his spittle all over Larry's face before covering his hands over his mouth for what he had just let out.  
Larry stiffened up, and his eyes shifted down to his own two feet. Shuffling, and his knees bent towards each other, he felt his system overheating. This was awkward.  
"Well, y-yes, Tuddrussel... I well… I do realize I'm a m-man. Sort of... But... WHO CA-"

Larry was interrupted by XJ93, a.k.a Freakazoid, who appeared right beside Tuddrussel, both jumping at the sight.  
"WHO the _HELL_ is this?" Larry demanded.  
Tuddrussel chuckled nervously."Oh him? Uh… Heh... This is uh... Haha... He's uh...uh… A friend of mine!..."

And almost immediately after, XJ93, having heard so much about this robot 'Larry', deliberately squeezed onto Tuddrussel's hand just to see what would happen.  
"Oh _MY_!" Larry cried flabbergasted, right before slapping XJ93's glass helmet lickety-split where his vulnerable face should technically have been. XJ93 let go of Tuddrussel's hand only to be pushed, hauled and heaved by a robot of minimal mass all the way on to the time pad.

"And don't you _dare_ let me catch you _anywhere near_ this place again, you hear?" A very heated Larry told off, shaking his fist in the air.

KA-POW!

XJ93 was zapped into oblivion.

"Humph!" as Larry haughtily turned around to catch Tuddrussel having followed him very step of the way.  
"What?" Larry cried defensively, hands on hips.  
"You... Up for another game of *Twister*, tonight, Lar?"  
Larry narrowed his eyes and a devilish grin spread across his face.

Realisation_._

_This_ was what he had been missing.

He was home.


End file.
